


The Rains Wash Away those Ghosts that Haunt Us

by Hezjena2023



Category: Dragon Age (Comics), Dragon Age - All Media Types
Genre: Character Study, Charter's had a bad day, Cuddles for EVERYONE, Everything is soft, F/F, Femslash February, Hurt/Comfort, Oneshot, Prompt:Rain, Tessa is there for emotional support, blankets and brushing hair, indirectly set after Tevinter Nights - I guess, no spoilers for Tevinter Nights, prompt:fem!slash feb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-15 00:13:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29180058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hezjena2023/pseuds/Hezjena2023
Summary: Whatever had spooked her was still haunting her and Tessa couldn’t fight ghosts. But she could make their blanket fortress strong enough that spectres through twice about trying to invade. Tessa took Charter’s hands in her own and blew warm air onto them, then encouraged her to lie down, and she joined her, facing each other, hidden under the thick blankets, huddled tight together.***Charter’s had a bad day, and Tessa soothes her worries.
Relationships: Charter/Tessa Forsythia
Comments: 5
Kudos: 5
Collections: Fen'Harem's Femslash February 2021





	The Rains Wash Away those Ghosts that Haunt Us

The rain was heavy, not quite torrential, enough that the roof had found a leak and there was now a monotonous dripping splashing into a tin bucket Tessa had placed hours again under the drip. Ignoring the slightly irritating sound, Tessa Forsythia was honestly trying to read the book she had curled on her lap, but the words swirled around on the page as though they had a mind of their own. Her foot bobbed into the air anxiously. 

The strangest thing was that she never worried for Charter’s safety when they were apart after all Charter had been the one to enlist her to the Inquisition. And when Charter had recruited her she’d rather shyly kissed her, and that kissing had become something more against the tilted bathroom wall, while the hot bath Tessa had been waiting for days for got cold. 

She smiled to herself as she remembered, that night and the handfuls of stolen nights since. It didn’t take long for Tessa to realise that she was doomed to fall quite in love with the assassin with twenty names and twice as many clever things to do with her tongue. And being sure that her family would disapprove of the spy, only made Charter taste all the sweeter. 

Tessa gasped and the book slipped from her hands, crashing to the floor and breaking the spine as Charter slipped in through the open window. 

Charter’s strawberry blonde hair was plastered to her face from the rain, her clothes were sodden and she left a puddle on the floor. 

“Always the secrecy,” Tessa smirked, but then her face fell as the joke and Charter’s jacket landed flat on the floor. The anxiety bubbled up inside her like a maelstrom, and Tessa grabbed a towel to hand to her girlfriend, “are you alright?”

Charter didn’t seem to notice Tessa for a moment, didn’t take the offered towel. Just carefully stripped out of her wet things. 

One thing that Tessa knew about Charter was that she was meticulously, aggressively tidy. But, now her wet clothes were dumped into a sodden pile on the floor. Not even rung out, or hung up by the fire to dry. 

“What happened?” Tessa repeated, her voice high and terrified. She reached for Charter, her palm against her frozen bare arm. 

Charter flinched back from the touch. Then looked at Tessa like she was seeing her for the first time. She blinked twice, foolishly, “Tess?” Her cheeks stained with a soft blush under her freckles. And she gathered her into her arms, as she felt her heart beating painfully in her chest. She breathed, then her face crumpled, big tears welled in her eyes and ran down her face. She pulled Tessa towards her, wrapped her arms around Tessa’s neck, pulling the other woman into a very tight hug. Through racking sobs, Charter explained simply, “it was a very long day.”

Rubbing soothing circles upon Charter’s back, she asked pointlessly, “want to tell me about it?” Even though she knew she wouldn’t. 

Charter shook her head, and she swallowed hard. Somehow managing to stop her crying in a way that Tessa had never mastered. She took unsteady breaths, calming herself almost completely. Except for the puffy, red eyes, it would have been impossible to know she’d just been crying. Her voice didn’t shake when she said, tortured, “you know I’m not allowed to.” Her eyes were puffy.

“Always the secrecy,” Tessa repeated, this time softer, there was no teasing, no resentment. Just an acknowledgement of what their lives were. It broke Tessa’s to see Charter like that. There was a sting in the top of her belly, that turned into a sharp pain, like she’d finally caught a blade there. There was no joking her way out of this one. So solemnly she confirmed, “we don’t have to talk about it.” 

As though breaking down some wall that had always been there, Charter wrapped her hands around Tessa’s waist, and confessed, with their foreheads pressed together, “thought I was going to die tonight.”

“You didn’t.”

“I didn’t.” Charter confirmed, and looked somehow astounded by that realisation. “I thought,” Charter’s voice cracked and she broke off, looking at the dripping bucket as though it was an intruder to their space. As she realised they were alone, Charter shivered, and it rolled over her like thunder across a bay. 

“Shh,” Tessa hummed. She passed across a knitwork blanket, which she wrapped it around Charter’s shoulders when Charter didn’t take it. Then coaxed Charter to sit down onto the bed, and Tessa worked to remove her hair ties, until Charter’s damp curls fumbled down her back. Working softly, between whispering reassurances, Tessa toweled her hair somewhere close to dry. 

It wasn’t a good job, as Charter wasn’t being particularly cooperative, and kept jumping as though she was expecting the door to crash open at any moment, but at least her hair wasn’t dripping anymore. Huddled under the blanket Charter looked smaller than she was, her eyes bigger, wider. 

Whatever had spooked her was still haunting her. Tessa couldn’t fight ghosts. But she could make their blanket fortress strong enough that spectres through twice about trying to invade. Tessa took Charter’s hands in her own and blew warm air onto them, then encouraged her lover to lie down, and she joined her, facing each other, hidden under the thick blankets, huddled tight together. 

And Charter smiled gratefully, the smile didn’t meet her eyes and it cracked like an icicle dropping in winter. “I don’t want to lose you.”

“You’re not going to,” Tessa insisted, then pressing a soft kiss to Charter’s forehead she soothed, “you haven’t lost me, I’m here, I’m here.” Somewhere far away, outside the huddle of blankets, the metallic dripping was starting to tail off and Tessa could imagine that the skies were starting to clear. And she hoped that everything would seem better once the sun was shining. 

For a long moment Charter said nothing, then hiccuped. “I love you,” she whispered between the third and forth hiccup. 

“I love you too.” 

  
  



End file.
